Circus!

Last night Anders, Johan and I went to the circus. Johan had never been before, and Anders was so little last time that he doesn't remember anything. I think they had a really fun time. Anders was most impressed by the acrobats - when we got home, he gave Gaute a detailed description of everything they had done. Johan thought the elephant was most exciting. He was pretty nervous before the elephant came out, but it wasn't very scary at all!

Both of them managed to eat enough cotton candy that they felt sick to their stomachs.

Before school this morning

Anders putting a cover on his new English book.

Espen off to camp

Espen left this morning for camp. He and his class (and their poor teacher) will be spending a week at Jotunfjell camp together with two 7th grade classes from other parts of Oslo. They're going to be up in the mountains, and, weather permitting, they're going to climb the highest mountain in Norway.

They were all pretty excited when they left this morning. Espen brought his Macgyver DVD's since there was a TV with a DVD player on the bus ;-).


Yes, that's Espen at the front of the line.

Friday

Yesterday was the official start of my last year at Høyskolen i Oslo. All of the 4th year students met in an auditorium, and the dean welcomed us. They gave us some administrative information, and then two teachers came to talk to us about what we should expect when we start teaching next year. It was semi-interesting...

What was fun was seeing everyone again, though. It made me realize how many friends I have made during these past few years. It's weird to think that this is the last year. I will miss it...

Although, on the other hand, school hasn't really started yet. Check back in a couple of months when I have papers due and finals to study for...

Another entry

We did so much this last summer that it's hard to figure out where to start...I think I'm going to start at the end and try to work my way back. When we came back from California then Molly came with us and was here for 4 weeks. It was really great to have her here. One of the many things we did was take a short trip up to Kari and Grim's cabin on the west coast. And this picture is from that trip.

Summer's over

Summer vacation is now officially over, at least for the kids. I still have until Monday :-). We have had a great summer, and I have lots of pictures, but here's one of our 2nd grader, 4th grader and 7th grader. It's Espen's last year of elementary school!

Johan's summer program

Last night was Johan's summer program. He's almost done with first grade. It's kind of strange - when he started school in the fall, I still felt like I had a little kid, because first grade here is kind of like kindergarten in the States. But now, he's going to be a second grader, and that's a completely different thing. He's a kid now, not a little kid anymore. Now I feel like all of my kids are getting so big...

Lynusklubben's Football camp

Last Thursday Anders and Johan were at Lyn's football camp for members of their kid's club - Lynusklubben. Some of the Lyn players were there to give the kids some tips, and they got some cool football jerseys. Espen was there the week before when they had the session for the older kids.

Global Warming

It's 5:00 pm, and it's 84 degrees. It's June. In Oslo. In Norway. 60 degrees North of the Equator.

More orienteering

Johan got a slight injury when he tripped and fell against a rock, but luckily they had a first aid table set up with someone there to fix him up.

Anders and Gaute at the start.

Espen on his way towards the finish line.

Espen the orienteerer

Yesterday Espen and Anders were in an orienteering race. I'm going to post some of the pictures I took, but until then you can check out this link online. Scroll down about halfway and you'll see two great shots of Espen in action.

Tessy turned 25 yesterday

My beautiful sister Tess turned 25 yesterday. I didn't talk to her, but I have been thinking about her so much. I always feel like I have a special connection with her birthday, since my high school graduation was on her 5th birthday. I can't believe you were only 5 then, Tessy - or that you're 25 now. I love you a lot and can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

Summer?

I see that they're predicting summer temperatures this weekend. Please, please.

For those of you who have been waiting in suspense...

We had a very nice weekend...



We made it to the top of Jomfruslettfjellet. All together we were on a 5 hour hike on Sunday. We brought along our little camp stove and made soup on the top of the mountain.


And we made it back in time to go to a Lyn game on Monday. It was a really exciting game, and they won, 4-3!!

Looooong Weeeekend

We're having another long weekend - Monday is a holiday here. I don't even remember which holiday it is. But a day off is a day off.

We decided at the last minute to go up to the cabin this weekend. I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow at 10:00, so they're going to pick me up after that, and then we're off. Hopefully the weather will be okay.

I can hardly wait for summer vacation. I will be very happy to be done with my last final on June 5th. When I started really looking into it, I realized that it's going to be really hard, so I've started actively studying for it. The system with finals here is so annoying. Our whole grade is more or less based on this one final....

Pictures from the 17th of May

Hurra for Norge!

Tomorrow is the 17th of May - Norway's national holiday. It's officially called Constitution Day, but everyone just refers to it as the 17th of May.

Hipp hurra for Norge!

Soap Box Derby

On Sunday, the annual Nordberg Grand Prix, a soap box derby, was held. Our kids were there, of course, for this big event in our neighborhood. Anders and Johan had a car that they had worked on with Gaute, and Espen and two of his friends, Herman and Andreas, had a car that they had built. None of them were fastest, but everyone gets a prize for this race - a bag filled with lots of cool stuff, like a hat and a t-shirt, water bottle and lots of candy! All together, there were about 60 cars in the race. It's a pretty big event around here - and lots of fun. Unfortunately, Anders and Johan's car rolled over right after they went over the finish line. Just a few scratches, but kind of scary. They're over it, though, and are already talking about the improvements they'll make to the car before the race next year!

Espen - he's pretty American

You Are 67% American

Most times you are proud to be an American. Though sometimes the good ole US of A makes you cringe Still, you know there's no place better suited to be your home. You love your freedom and no one's going to take it away from you!

How American Are You?

What would we do without our trampoline?